Words from our Arlington Ecological Services Field Office Fellow
"My first four weeks as a DFP included an orientation week, a steep learning curve, and learning how to connect to a place I have never physically been to. During the orientation week, the presentations and guest speakers showed why so many people chose a career in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The stand out speaker for me was Deputy Director of Operations, Bryan Arroyo. He spoke about how important the values of integrity, responsibility, and trustworthiness are in any work that we do. He emphasized that holding compassion above all else is important, because together we will complete what we need to do. His words spoke of hard earned wisdom and I plan to use them as guidance during the DFP fellowship and throughout my future career.
After my orientation, I began to learn what my specific DFP position entailed. For my position, I am tasked with evaluating ammonia and temperature risks to imperiled East Texas mussels. This required a steep learning curve in understanding how to navigate the multitude of databases I would be pulling information from and the standard operating procedures of the field office. In familiar programs like Excel, I found myself using operations and functions that I have never needed to use previously. This steep learning curve was both challenging and rewarding. I know that I am pushing myself to expand my skills and knowledge which is only helping me to grow and gain experience.
Lastly, I was a bit apprehensive about starting to work in an office and place that I had never been to before. For my DFP position, I am teleworking from several states away, and one of my biggest challenges was figuring out how to have connections. The Arlington Field Office has been fantastic in introducing me to the staff members at the office and encouraging me to reach out. At first, it was difficult to find the balance between professionalism and friendliness when using Microsoft Teams and emails to meet new people. In the coming weeks I plan to continue working on this balance and reaching out to more people in my office and region."
